


heaven’s just a rumor she’ll dispel as she walks me through the nicest parts of hell

by drusillaes



Category: Black Mirror (TV), Black Mirror: Rachel Jack and Ashley Too
Genre: Bisexuality, F/F, Punk Rock Lesbians, happy fucking pride month, like a movie makeover but in reverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 00:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19120459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drusillaes/pseuds/drusillaes
Summary: a coda between the girls crashing Catherine's business meeting and the scene in the dive bar at the end.(aka I watched Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too and I felt the need to write some sapphic musician crap.)





	heaven’s just a rumor she’ll dispel as she walks me through the nicest parts of hell

Ashley stays with Rachel and Jack while the trial for her aunt goes on. It’s widely publicized, and it’s Jack and Rachel who stand outside shooing away reporters while Ashley runs out the back in a hoodie to get some fresh air.

 

“Fresh air, huh?” Jack steps out onto the porch. It’s a summer evening, and she’s in cutoff black shorts and a purple _Pixies_ t-shirt knotted at the bellybutton. Her bellybutton is pierced with a little diamond, Ashley notices. She’s been noticing a lot about Jack these days.

Ashley drops the cigarette, grinds it under her sneaker. Rachel’s sneaker, actually. Ashley’s lawyers are still trying to get all her shit back, but technically Ashley’s still in a coma and it all belongs to Catherine. “You gonna tell?”

Jack scoffs. “Do I look like a tattletale to you?” She slides the porch door closed behind her, walks further out onto the porch and leans against the balcony. The sunset silhouettes her face and paints her cheeks in a way that gets Ashley’s stupid _creativity center_ whirling. “So,” Jack says. “What are you going to do now?”  
“Do?”  
“You’ve got _eager fans_ that can’t wait to see their precious Ashley O return to stardom.” Jack fiddles with her silver rings.

“Fuck ‘em,” Ashley says. “I’m never putting on one of those sparkly skintight bikinitards for the rest of my life.”

A smirk crosses Jack’s lips. She’s started wearing black lipstick this summer. It’s kind of a good look for her.

“Ashley Too told me your mom died,” Ashley says, and as soon as its past her chapped lips she regrets it. Jack looks at her. Her green eyes are unreadable. Clear as a fucking lake. “Yeah,” Jack replies after a pause.

“I’m sorry,” Ashley offers. More silence. “I lost my parents too.”  
“I know.”

Ashley looks at her shoes. She hasn’t felt this insecure since high school. Jack hops onto the balcony. “Rachel’s getting over you,” she says. “I think seeing you comatose and screwed by your aunt sorta ruined the whole perfect idol image.”  
“Good,” Ashley lifts a hand to her lips, wishing for another cigarette. “Rachel’s a cool kid. She just needs to believe in herself.”

Jack laughs. It’s not a nice sound. “You sure your switch is flipped right?” She waves a hand over Ashley’s eyes. “If you’re being mind-controlled, blink twice.”  
Ashley swats her hand away.

 

* * *

 

 

It starts becoming a thing. After Rachel’s asleep, Jack and Ashley smoke together on the back porch. Then Ashley wants to go out to eat, so they crash a convenience store at two in the morning and eat stale sandwiches and trade stories.

“What’s Jack short for anyway?” Ashley asks over a meal of potato chips and vodka.

“Jacqueline,” Jack says.

“Pretty name,” Ashley comments. It is a pretty name, all dolled up and lacy, and it doesn’t suit Jack in the slightest. “Not butch enough for you?”

Jack smirks. When she smirks, one side of her mouth goes higher than the other. “Guess not.”

 

* * *

 

 

**five months later**

“I’m starting a band.” Ashley’s standing at the Goggins’ door, wearing a shimmery gold tank top that’s basically a sports bra and skintight leggings. After getting her house and her possessions back, she’s stayed out of the limelight, but she apparently doesn’t own normal clothes, Jack notes. “I need a guitarist. Rachel told me you play?”

Jack makes a mental note to murder her sister later. But Ashley’s looking at her hopefully so Jack sighs and drags a hand over her face. Years of practice have taught her how to do this without smearing her eyeliner. “Yeah, I play. I’m shit, though.”  
“I was when I started,” Ashley offers, the affirmation sounding awkward coming from her lips.

“Fuck, why not?” Jack’s mouth tugs up into a smile, and Ashley claps her hands together in a childish display of glee. “But first, we need to fix your look.”  
“My look?” Ashley is suspicious. Catherine had talked about her look too, talked her into that god-awful pink wig and that latex white skirt.

“Don’t look so nervous, I just want to take you to the mall.” Jack is already grabbing her bag. “Come on. You drive.”

 

Jack steers Ashley away from the bubblegum pastels and the tight tank tops with sequinned lollipops and towards the oversized flannels, ripped jeans, tattered leather jackets.

“Well?” Ashley emerges from the dressing room in an oversized shirt just brushing her thighs and a pair of fishnet stockings paired with combat boots. _REAL ROCK NEVER DIES_ , the shirt proclaims proudly. Jack looks proud, and weirdly affectionate. “Hot,” she says decisively.

 

They get Ashley’s nose pierced too. Caught up in the spirit, Ashley asks how much it costs to get a nipple pierced.

“Okay, it’s time to go,” Jack says, grabbing her hand and dragging her away.

 

* * *

 

 

“If my aunt saw me like this she’d have a conniption,” Ashley says before their first performance as she lines her eyes with dark eyeliner. “You look hot,” Jack says unprompted, slicking her red hair back and shrugging on a leather jacket. Ashley grins.

 

* * *

 

 

**four years later**

Jack’s enjoying being part of Ashley’s band, and on her twenty first birthday Ashley takes her to a bar to celebrate. Rachel’s there too -she’s at Wesleyan now. Her blonde hair is braided into an elegant single plait, and she wears a flowered dress that exposes curves that high school Rachel would have killed for.

Ashley’s grown out her long blonde hair and dyed the ends dark purple in a sort of homage to her teenage self. She’s already drinking with the rest of their band, _Fuck Eternity_ , when Jack arrives.

“I’m not allowed to be here,” Rachel says, shifting in her sandals. “I’m still a minor, you know.”

 _“Shut the fuck up,”_ Ashley Too says. Clearly, her battery isn’t even close to dying. _“You’re twenty, and you’ve got a fake ID.”_

“Hey, robot me,” Ashley pours herself another shot of vodka.

 _“Hey, regular me.”_ Ashley Too’s entire head is colored dark blue with sharpie. She’s practically unrecognizable, just like her real life model.

Jack takes her first legal drink as her sister and the rest of the band cheer.

The night ends with Ashley dancing on a table while the rest of the bar applauds. At one point, Ashley pulls Jack and Rachel up with her, and just like when they were in high school and Ashley was a comatose pop star, neither of them can refuse her.

 

* * *

 

Ashley kisses Jack after a particular good set. They’re still on stage, and she just leans over and kisses her roughly, lipsticked mouths mashing together. Jack’s heart is beating out of her chest by the time Ashley pulls away. Under all the makeup, Ashley’s eyes are wide and nervous. Jack smiles at her, shyer than she’s ever been, and Ashley grins back.

 

* * *

 

 

“Are you writing a song about me?” Jack is dressed in one of her own flannels, and it’s unbuttoned and barely scraping her thighs. Ashley’s already awake and dressed, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. They’d given up Ashley’s expensive home for an apartment in New York City. It’s cheap and shitty, but they both love it fiercely.

Ashley kisses Jack’s shoulder. “Not everything is about you, babe.” But the sparkle in her eyes give her away.

 

If twenty-two year old Ashley O, the pop star sensation, had come out as bisexual, there would have been an outcry.

But when twenty-seven year old Ashley Virginia Ortiz kisses her girlfriend at a Manhattan Pride Parade, all they hear is cheers.

After all, for all intents and purposes, Ashley O is dead.

And as she wraps her hands around Jack’s waist and pulls her closer, Ashley thinks she’s never felt more alive.


End file.
